shocking I know but it's a start with this gang of arseholes.
The head of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s re-election campaign and a Liberal fundraiser are facing Elections Act charges for alleged bribery in the 2015 Sudbury byelection.
Patricia Sorbara, until recently Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, and Sudbury funeral director Gerry Lougheed will be charged by Ontario Provincial Police, the Star has learned.
Police swore the information before a justice of the peace on Monday and will formally announce the charges Tuesday.
The dramatic move, which comes with the Nov. 17 byelection campaigns underway in Niagara West-Glanbrook and Ottawa-Vanier, follows almost two years of investigation.
Criminal charges of bribery were stayed against Lougheed in Sudbury last April while detectives continued their probe into the lesser offences under the Elections Act.
Sorbara, who moved from Wynne’s office to become CEO and director of the 2018 Liberal campaign on Oct. 3, was never criminally charged.
Under provincial law, “no person shall, directly or indirectly, give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a person to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy.”
Police were tight-lipped Monday, with OPP Det.-Supt. Dave Truax saying only that “the investigation is ongoing.”
The OPP’s move appears to have blindsided the government and neither Sorbara nor Lougheed were immediately available for comment Monday night.
Earlier on Monday, Wynne said she didn’t know of any developments in the case.
“I’m not aware of anything new — I don’t know whether there’s something new,” Wynne said at a news conference with Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, who won the hard-fought 2015 contest in Sudbury.
https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...ce-elections-act-charges-in-sudbury-case.html
The head of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s re-election campaign and a Liberal fundraiser are facing Elections Act charges for alleged bribery in the 2015 Sudbury byelection.
Patricia Sorbara, until recently Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, and Sudbury funeral director Gerry Lougheed will be charged by Ontario Provincial Police, the Star has learned.
Police swore the information before a justice of the peace on Monday and will formally announce the charges Tuesday.
The dramatic move, which comes with the Nov. 17 byelection campaigns underway in Niagara West-Glanbrook and Ottawa-Vanier, follows almost two years of investigation.
Criminal charges of bribery were stayed against Lougheed in Sudbury last April while detectives continued their probe into the lesser offences under the Elections Act.
Sorbara, who moved from Wynne’s office to become CEO and director of the 2018 Liberal campaign on Oct. 3, was never criminally charged.
Under provincial law, “no person shall, directly or indirectly, give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a person to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy.”
Police were tight-lipped Monday, with OPP Det.-Supt. Dave Truax saying only that “the investigation is ongoing.”
The OPP’s move appears to have blindsided the government and neither Sorbara nor Lougheed were immediately available for comment Monday night.
Earlier on Monday, Wynne said she didn’t know of any developments in the case.
“I’m not aware of anything new — I don’t know whether there’s something new,” Wynne said at a news conference with Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, who won the hard-fought 2015 contest in Sudbury.
https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...ce-elections-act-charges-in-sudbury-case.html